January 2011

Where do rising food prices matter most? Azerbaijan. According to the Department of Agriculture Azerbaijanis spend 73.5 percent of their budget on food. That leaves only 26.5% left over for housing, clothing, education, healthcare and everything else. Food prices are … Continue reading →

What will provide a longer life? Money is clearly not enough. If economic growth automatically delivered longer lifespans, Americans would live much longer than they do. Over the past quarter century, longevity in the United States has grown slower than … Continue reading →

…depends on the shape of the cup. Seattle Seahawks fans have discovered, to their chagrin, that the “large” beer sold at Qwest stadium contains the same amount of beer as the “small” beer, though it costs $1.25 more. See it … Continue reading →

I bet you didn’t know that the United Nations puts a value on the life of people around the world. What’s even more surprising is just how cheap the life of a Zimbabwean is deemed to be: it deems that … Continue reading →

People use gym membership fees as commitment devices, on the assumption that paying for the gym every month will provide an effective incentive to work out to avoid wasting money. The tactic rarely works, however, as is evident at gyms … Continue reading →

The Environmental Protection Agency is suddenly queasy about putting a price on life. Like other government agencies, the EPA uses an estimate of the value of Americans’ lives in order to assess the costs of regulations against their benefits. The … Continue reading →

On April 16, 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower made a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors in which he pointed out the enormous cost of the Cold War. He pointed out that “every gun that is made, every warship … Continue reading →

Felix Salmon has an interesting post on the price of taxicab medallions in New York City: a perfect illustration of the increasingly lopsided distribution of rewards between the owners of capital and the owners of labor in American capitalism. The … Continue reading →

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EDUARDO PORTER

Eduardo Porter writes about business, economics, and many other matters as a member of the New York Times editorial board. He has also worked as a journalist in Mexico City, Tokyo, London, São Paulo, and Los Angeles. He was the editor of the Brazilian edition of América Economía and covered the Hispanic population of the United States for The Wall Street Journal. He lives in New York.